Armour thyroid to levothyroxine conversion

Common Questions and Answers about Armour thyroid to levothyroxine conversion

armour-thyroid

I want to substitute Armor Thyroid for .75 milligrams of levoythyroxine. I have no problem with my thyroid. I was put on this med as a preventative measure after I had the right lobe of my thuroiad removed due to a nodule (benighn) that grew on it.
Please advise of the appropriate dosage to substitute.

And unless you are on Armour (natural pig thyroid hormone), the only way to accomplish that is to add Cytomel (T3) to your T4 replacement (Synthroid/Levoxyl/Levothyroxine/fill in the blank).
The only reason I've not tried Armour thus far is that pigs have a different ratio of T3 to T4 than humans. With Cytomel you can change the amount of T3 based on "your body", rather than be "stuck" with a higher amount of T3 as a constant.

Hi I was wondering if anyone was switched to levothyroxine because of the shortage and had sucess with the transition. I was switched tolevothyroxine 150 from being on ArmourThyroid 105 for about 2 years and had hyper symptoms and was was switched to levothyroxine 125 and still had hyper symptoms and labs. So the doctor decreased me to 100 and after 3 weeks was very tired, depressed, anxious and weak.

They think all you need is medicine with T4 only in it like Levothyroxine when I think a lot of people need both to get feeling back to normal and to have energy again and be able to lose weight. I also have seen that the levothyroxine has a list of side effects with it. The armour has no side effects as long as it is dosed correctly. I hope I was able to help. Good Luck.

I started with ArmourThyroid 15, then increased dose to 30 and started to have slight swelling of my fingers. When dose was increased to 60, swelling become worst, started to have some weird muscle pain, joint pain, appetite increased. I asked my doctor to switch to Levothyroxine and ALL my symptoms disappeared after 3 doses. Armour Thyroid is not natural for humans, but it's natural for pigs. I am glad I switched to Levothyroxine. I should do it earlier.

Many things need to be considered dosing a patient on Armour.
Adrenal issues - NO THYROID patients that had RAI - surgery to remove the gland - etc - etc -etc...... 90mgs of Armour thyroid - just "given" is and should not be said as a majority without proper testing and thyroid history evaluation.

The major reason why T4 synthetics may not work for some is b/c it 100% relies on conversion from the liver to make active T3 to balance thyroid hormones. If the liver is unable to convert the med for what ever reason then the ratios of hormones are not correct for the body.

We follow the recommendations by the Endocrine Society which recommends that TSH levels should be drawn 4-6 weeks following medication adjustment as it takes T4 at least 4 weeks to reach a steady state (consistent level) in your body and cause TSH to remain more stable. T3, which is part of Armourthyroid, has 1) a very short half life (in and out of your body very quickly) and 2) is poorly absorbed by your your system.

i suggested to my doctor that i wanted to change from levothyroxinetoarmourthyroid and she tried to very convincingly persuade me to stick with the levo but increase the mcg to suit my body's needs...i pushed for the armour thyroid and she declined to switch it. i now am stuck with taking levothyroxine 100mcg, and i have to go see an endocrine specialist to even get approved to take the armour thyroid. ive read nothing but 100% good things about the armour thyroid...

I had an RAI ablation after being diagnosed with Grave's disease 10 years ago and have been on levothyroxine since. Does synthetic T4 convert to T3? I thought that T4 to T3 conversions occurred in the thyroid gland...so without one, where does this conversion take place?
Desperately need advice as I've been miserable when my TSH is in the "normal range" and have resorted to self-treatment.

Acording to epocrates:
ArmourThyroid 60 mg= 50-100 mcg of levothyroxine (Synthroid).
Obviously not real specific!
If you stay on Synthoid, I would demand the name brand Synthroid since it seems to have more consistent results than generic levothyroxine.
epocrates is free on line.

Since Free T3 has been shown to correlate best with hypo symptoms, before accepting the above conversion and jumping toArmour, I think we should look at your thyroid test results, and their reference ranges shown on the lab report. It may be that you do not really need so much Armour Thyroid. Also, if tested for Vitamin D, B12 and ferritin, please post those, along with ranges, as well.
Last, please tell us about any symptoms you are having.

It occurs to me that they say Synthoid covers T4, but I am wondering if it does. People on Armourthyroid seem to have more energy. My sister was dx with Hashimotos about a year ago, they put her on Synthroid and she didn't like it. So he put her on Armour and she has lots of energy.
I went to 4 Endocrinologist and NOT ONE would allow me to go on Armour! They say it's not pure, but people took freeze dried thyroid for 100 years and did fine on it. My sister doesn't have a wt problem.

I was fine w/ all of that feeling overall pretty good - no mood swings, decent concentration, enjoying life and work.
I needed a refill of Armour before I could get in to my thyroid doctor so my PCP gave me a 1 mo. refill of Armour and ran a blood test (she said she needed to have some documentation for writing the prescription). Results were as follows (w/ the previous September lab for comparison):
February:
Taken at 9 am, 1 hour after morning dose
TSH: 2.95 normal = .4 - 4.7
Ft4: .

Looking back, another option could have been to 1. Try an NDT other than armour (thinking NP THyroid or ERFA...at the time I wasn't aware there were other options besides armour!) ) and/or 2. drop the cytomel which would have dropped my ft3 into acceptable ranges while also allowing my FT4 to rise ( for me whenever I add T3 I can expect my FT4 to drop dramatically). Perhaps it's worth trying? Maybe I wouldn't experience the same side affects. So I have a couple of questions
1.

Some people convert T4 to T3 slowly, and when that happens, they need to add a T3 medication to their levothyroxine (which is T4 only) to feel well.
Unfortunately, testing of FT3 and treatment with T3 meds is hard to come by in the U.K. Many of our members have had to go private in order to get it. However, i think it's very important for you to do. Nine times out of ten, someone with your high FT4 level, who still feels hypo, has a conversion problem.

Dear Doctor/Forum,
I was dx'd with Hashimoto's on my 40s B-day, and placed on Synthroid. Did not do well on it, and decided to switch toarmour. I am currently on 90 mg on Armour a day, and my TSH is going up and down all the time. I cruising around TSH 4.0 all the time, and cannot go beoyng 2.0.. My doctor has increased the dose only once, went from 60 mg to 90 mg. My hands are cold and needles in fingertips all the time, I cannot use my fingertips for fine movements.. Terrible.

There are two different conversion factors used for converting T4 dosages to ArmourThyroid. One says that 75 mcg of T4 is equal to 60 mg of Armour. The second says that 100 mcg of T4 is equal to 60 mg of Armour.
With the first, 25 mcg of T4 would be about 20 mcg of Armour. With the second the 25 mcg of T4 would convert to 15 mg of Armour. So, with either conversion factor, I don't see where she determined that your Armour dosage is in the middle of the 25 and 50 mcg dosages.

If there is a conversion issue of T4 into T3 then Levo will not be the answer for you. You may want to add a T3 med along with that or switch entirely toArmour.
If you are getting the T4 and total TSH testing that is not helping you at all.
Specifically - you need to ask for the FREE T3 testing along with FREE T4 and TSH.
I don't read anywhere a TSH that would suggest eurthyroid. So I lean to believe you are still very hypothyroid and need to start a different med therapy.

It's not necessary to refrain from taking your levothyroxine for 24 hrs prior to doing thyroid blood work. It's really best not to take it until after your blood draw, but because of the long half life of levothyroxine, and the time it takes to fully enter your blood stream, it's probably not going to affect your results terribly much.
Iodide is a form of iodine, which is not recommended when one has Hashimoto's as it can make the autoimmune reaction worse.

From personal experience I would say Nature throid is much better then anything else I have tried. Armour(reformulated), synthroid, levothyroxine, cytomel.
I don't think it is good to just accept what a doctor gives you if it is not what you would like to do.
If you think you will do better on these why waste time on the others? And it is easier to choose one and stick to it change around makes it hard to get to the right dose.

Your problem is not the medication you are taking.
Your problem is your thyroid. Changing medication is not going to change how your thyroid is acting.
In order to have a discussion of what your condition is and what medication would suit you best, certain terms must be defined.
You said your T4 and T3 results have never been really low, at worst just slightly below normal range. Slightly below normal range is actually terrible. You can be within normal ranges and still be low on hormones.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with natural thyroid and you may want to give that a try. The other way to go about it is to raise your T4 meds until your FT4 levels get to the middle of the range or slightly above. If your FT3 levels are not in the upper 1/3 or so of the range start slowly and add T3 med like Cytomel. It sounds like your Dr may be more inclined to go this route.

And, if we decide to do a mixture, how much Armour and how much Levothyroxine would be equivalent to the original 175 mcg Levo?
Is there a benefit of using a combo rather than straight Armour?
I know I need blood work eventually, but just to get to a level playing field and to get these irritating symptoms to subside.
Thanks again.

Occasionally a primary care physician knows enough about thyroid disorders to be able to treat one, but for many of us, an endocrinologist who sees a lot of patients with thyroid problems (rather than dealing mostly with diabetes) is the best choice.
Whatever sort of physician is treating your thyroid problem, I hope it is someone you can see or talk to soon if your being very tired continues.

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